Literary Birthday – 16 October – Meg Rosoff

I don’t get nearly enough credit in life for the things I manage not to say.

The average attention span of the modern human being is about half as long as whatever you’re trying to tell them.

Self-knowledge is essential not only to writing, but to doing almost anything really well. It allows you to work through from a deep place – from the deep, dark corners of your subconscious mind.

I’ve spent most of my life trying to wear a persona that didn’t quite fit and when I started writing books, it was like finally becoming the right person.

Ask any comedian, tennis player, chef. Timing is everything.

So much relies on one person assuming the other is telling the truth. If a person can lie to you about one thing, he can lie about something else.

Writing’s a great skill, but thinking’s a better one.

It’s hard recommending books for kids, and a huge responsibility. If you get it wrong, they don’t tell you they hate that particular book, they tell you they hate reading.

Perhaps the way to proceed is to think of life on Earth as a colossal joke, a creation of such immense stupidity that the only way to live is to laugh until you think your heart will break.

When you read a book, the neurons in your brain fire overtime, deciding what the characters are wearing, how they’re standing, and what it feels like the first time they kiss. No one shows you. The words make suggestions. Your brain paints the pictures.

I always think plot is what you fall back to keep things going.

Not everything you want to know is explained properly on Google.

Meg Rosoff is an American writer. She is best known for the novel How I Live Now, which won the Guardian Prize. Her second novel, Just in Case won the Carnegie Medal.